The waterfront in downtown Halifax is the home of the Halifax Harbourwalk, a 3-km boardwalk popular amongst tourists and locals. The harbourwalk is also home to the Metro Transit ferry terminal, a multitude of eclectic shops, Halifax’s Historic Properties, several office buildings, the Casino Nova Scotia, tour operators, party boats, and squares/parks where buskers perform during the annual Halifax International Busker Festival in August.
It takes about half an hour to make your way southwards on the Harbourwalk from Casino Nova Scotia in the north to the Pier 21 National Historic Site. More than 2.5 million visitors walk the Harbourwalk annually — many from cruise ships.
There is also only a small parking lot and side street separating the Harbourwalk from the Alexander Keiths historical building (you can easily see it — it sticks out). When we first went to the Harbourwalk from our hotel (besides the Alexander Keith building), traffic stopped midway down the street to let us cross. I was so shocked that I didn’t know what to do. And, instead of honking for us to go, the drivers simply waved hello.
You hear about these sorts of niceties while travelling, but when it happens it’s rather eye-opening. In most cities (like Calgary), if you dare cross somewhere other than a crosswalk the driver will hit you and leave you for dead.
Last year was probably the busiest year ever for cruise ships. It was not unusual to have three cruise ships tied up there on a given day. The boardwalk gets pretty crowded.